have you forgotten yet?
by burnouts
Summary: Jake swears he hears her whisper, "just don't forget me." —Marley/Jake, Kitty/Jake, AU. For CherryPower.


dedicated to CherryPower, who writes some of the best Glee fanfictions ever! Seriously, check her fics out. They're awesome and you won't regret it! xx

**prompts:** stargazing, breeze, &/or orchids

* * *

**have you forgotten yet?**  
look up, and swear by the green of the spring  
that you'll never forget  
_siegfried sasson, aftermath_

Marley doesn't have much — she's grown up wearing Wal-Mart shoes and shirts from thrift stores. There were nights when she'd go hungry, and days when her mother would barely have enough money to cover the bills. Hell, there was even a point when they went two weeks without lights.

And through all of that, she had never wanted anything in this world, more than she wants Jake right now. Of course, when she was seven wishing for a teddy bear and a father, the other kids got that, and she got nothing.

She has a feeling it's going to be second grade all over again, except this time she doesn't want a teddy bear and her father can suck it. This time what she wants a boy who's the property of a very blonde, very attractive cheerleader.

And there's more than a temper-tantrum and boredom riding on this — her heart is on the line this time.

* * *

There's a point in time in which Kitty and Jake break up, and it's either the best or the worst thing to happen to Marley. She tries not to watch as she collects her books for her next class, but Kitty's locker is only eleven lockers down, and they aren't all that far away, and she hears every word (and it doesn't help that they're screaming).

"You're suffocating me, Kitty!"

"That's not what you said last night!"

"God damnit, Kitty." Marley jumps a little, nearly dropping her very large geometry book on her foot, when Jake punched the locker beside Kitty's head. She watches silently as Kitty's eyes widen quiet a bit. "We're over."

And then Jake walks away, leaving everyone in the hallway spluttering, mainly Marley and Kitty. Really, Marley feels a bit bad for being so happy that they're finally over (but not really, at the same time).

* * *

"Are you alright?" The quiet sound of her voice cuts through the air as Marley makes her way towards Jake, who's back is to her, sitting in one of the middle rows in the auditorium. They're all alone in here, and Marley thinks this could be a potenially dangerous thing. Sure, she and Jake have become pretty good friends within the last month, but in the last month Jake has been off-limits and now he's not, and she can hardly trust herself to be all alone with him, in this big, dark room.

"Yeah." His voice is hoarse and tired, and she finds herself walking towards him even though she means to turn and walk away.

"Wanna talk about it?" She asks as she slides smoothly into the seat next to him. Jake shakes his head wordlessly and Marley nods and forces herself to stare straight ahead as the silence once again sets in.

She respects his wishes and doesn't speak again for a long time, and then even after maybe and hour has passed neither of them have spoken and Marley hasn't turned her head to look at him, but then she can barely take it anymore, so she does what she promised herself the second she caught sight of his back in the auditorium she wouldn't do — she turns her head and she looks at him.

Jake is already looking at her, and she wonders if maybe he's been looking at her this whole time, and a sense of hope fills her up, and the hope over-flows when Jake leans over and kisses her, and she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him back, and she thinks maybe this could be the start of something.

She doesn't think about Kitty, nor does she think about the fact that Kitty and Jake just broke up less than two hours ago. All she thinks is how good it feels to finally have Jake's lips on hers.

* * *

He brings her orchids and calls her pretty and holds her hand in his underneath the lunch table, and she thinks maybe she's in love with him. No, scratch that, she knows she's in love with him. But the thing is, he's hesitant about labeling their relationship as something more than just a casual nothing, and it worries her, as it rightfully should.

Still, she builds up a case against herself in her head: She's being crazy. Jake obviously feels the same about her as she does for him, he's just hesitant to move forward after the last relationship he had, where Kitty was super clingy and moved crazy fast. That's all it is. It's not because he's stringing her along, it's not because he doesn't like her like that; it's because he just wants to move slow. She can accept that. She can move slow.

She can.

* * *

Soon the whole moving slow thing turns into moving fast, as she finds herself laying in the cold grass, his warm body keeping the cold breeze from reaching her too badly, the stars they were previously gazing at not fifteen minutes ago their backdrop as his lips move against hers and his fingers slip underneath her shirt, and it's all so dizzying. Marley tells herself to stop him — she should pull away, otherwise this is going to go much farther than she'd really like in the morning, but she can't stop him. There's a part of her that doesn't want to stop him.

Marley wants to do this with him, because she loves him and he loves her, and really what reasons does she have not to?

Jake Puckerman takes Marley Rose's virginity underneath the night sky on a red blanket in the shaded area, covered by foliage and trees in his backyard while his mom is out, and really, it's the only way she'd ever want it to happen. It's not candles and rose petals and a queen-size bed with a silk comforter, but that's everyone else's idea of romantic, and Marley's idea of romance is a little more simpler — her and Jake. It doesn't matter where they are to Marley, as long as their together.

* * *

The next day at school she sees Kitty kisses some guy against her locker, and it's only after Marley's got her English book and notebook in her hands and is shutting her locker that she realizes who that guy is. It's Jake. Her books clatter to the floor and her eyes water and her mouth drops open and, _what? _Her whole world shakes and spins out of control, and she can't find the release button, and she reaches a hand out to steady herself, because she needs something to hold onto or she'll fall.

She thought that something she could hold onto was Jake, but he wasn't and now all she has is a locker and a few "I'm really sorrys" from Jake and a cherry slushie in her face and a smirk from Kitty that says "I win, you lose." She doesn't feel the freezing cold slushie burning her eyes and creating an ache in her head. All she feels in betrayal and the feeling of her not-quite-beating heart being ripped from her chest.

"Loser," Kitty mutters as she drags Jake away, her fingers locked in his. Jake turns around once to look at her, regret clear in his eyes, but just when Marley thinks maybe he'll run over and beg for her to take him back (she would, she always would, in a heartbeat), he turns a corner and never looks back, and Marley thinks its unfair to herself and him to expect otherwise.

* * *

Here's a secret — Jake Puckerman is absolutely, irrevocably in love with Marley Rose. She makes him feel things he's never, ever felt before. She's the person he sees in his dreams and the name he mutters in his sleep, and when he sings, he sings to her, no matter where his eyes trail. She's his "the one," as bull-shitty as that sounds. But the thing is, he's scared and he doesn't know how to be vulnerable and he's fucking awful at relationships, so he makes out with Kitty just to fuck things up with Marley, and he breaks her heart now, so he won't break it later.

He regrets it the second his lips touch Kitty's, but he doesn't pull away, because he's just doing what he thinks is best for Marley, as twisted as that sounds.

Jake knows(thinks) she's not going to forgive him in the end, but what he doesn't realize is she's already forgiven him. It's not really him she's mad at, anyway. It's Kitty, and it's herself. In life, the happily-ever-afters are hard to come by, and she should have realized that she wouldn't be lucky enough to receive one.

* * *

Jake swears he hears her whisper, "just don't forget me," as her shoulder brushes his in the crowded hallway as she passes him by.

What she doesn't know is he'll never forget; couldn't forget, not even if he wanted to.

She was—_is _something special, and that brief time he had her without _really _having her, he was the luckiest man in the entire world, and he retains that, even now after everything's gone to hell and he has to deal with Kitty's high-pitch voice and slobbery kisses. He had her once, and even though she's no longer his and even though he never technically had her, once was enough for him to remember over and over again for the rest of his life.

* * *

**note(s): **hope you enjoyed this one, guys! :)


End file.
